Jewel hole opening apparatus



Sept. 18, 1945. J. o. LE VAN 2,385,287

JEWEL HOLE OPENING APPARATUS Filed April 20, 1944 a a L f% FIG.

FIG 5.

INVENTOR. JAMES 0. LE VAN ATTY Patented Sept. 18, 1945 James Oliver Le Van, Lancaster, 2a., assignor to Hamilton Watch Company, Lancaster, Pa.

Application April 20, 191A, Serial "No. 531,982 sclaims. (cl. 51-62) This invention relates to a method and apparatus for opening or enlarging the holes drilled in jewel bearings of the type used in precision instruments.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus by means of which the hole in a jewel may be enlarged to the proper diameter.

Ithas been the practice in the making .of jewels for precisioninstruments to drill a hole in the jewels as large as the desired finished hole and then by lapping the hole with a wire coated with diamond dust of fine size to obtain thedesired diameter. This has had bad results when done by hand as the forcing of a wire large enough to invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view. Fig. 2. is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is a side elevation .of the jewel carrier. Fig- 4 is a view on e 4-4 of Fla 3.

Fi .5 is a top plan view f th jewel carrier J showing the jewels mounted thereon.

The invention as shown in Figs. land 2- includes a table top I supported by legs 2 and having a series of tracks 3 which include trackways 4, 5, 6, l, 8, 9, and ID on which are mounted jewel carriers ll only two of which are shown in Fig. 1 and I only one in Fig.2. The operation of these jewel enlarge the holes has caused agreat many of these jewels to break.

The present method makes use of enlarging the hole almost to the finished size with a diamond "size larger than that used vfor final finish, and

finishing the hole to size with the proper finishin diamond size. The use of the larger diamond cuts down on opening time. It is with this in mind that the present invention makes use of a step wire, that is, a wire having difierent diameters in its single length and advancing the jewels along the step wire until the desired diameter is obtained. The wire used in this apparatus forms the subject matter of pat entapplication, Ser. No. 485,501.

The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus by means of which a number of jewels may be supported in fixed relation to the apparatus with a wire reciprocated through the jewels.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a series of tracks on which jewel carriers may be mounted and held at any desired position relative to the tracks, and an abrading wire reciprocating in the direction of the tracks and through the jewels.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide means for enlarging a plurality of jewels by reciprocating an abrading wire therethrough.

' It is a still further object of the present invention to provide means for enlarging the diameter in a plurality of jewels by passing an abrading wire therethrough, the force used to enlarge the diameter in control and limited.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a plurality of jewel carriers, each holding a plurality of jewels and a plurality of abrading members reciprocating through said jewels to enlarge the opening of said jewels. The

carriers on eachof the tracks and the explanation of the operation of one is considered sufficient for the operation of all seven. The jewel carrier is formed with an H-shaped base l2 comprising a lower surface 13, an upper surface [4 and a connecting bar l5 and these parts may be integral as shown in Fig. 4 or separate parts secured together insome manner. Securedon the upper surface Id at each end is a guide l6 formed with a central slot I! to receive. the abrading wire, a

retaining member 18 secured to the topof these guides to prevent accidental displacement of the abrading wire, while a metal floating guide 19 is adjacent the inner face of theguide members it and is held in position by a pin 20.

The jewel carriers ll aremounted to slide in the trackways 3', the upper member l4 and the lower member l3 traveling respectively above and below the track rails. Athumb screw 2| threaded into a plate 22 carried on the upper surface l4 bears against a fiber cylinder 23 which engages any one of the track rails to securely hold the jewel carrier in any desired position.

Mounted at a slight distance from and at each end of the track are rollers 24 and 25, while adjacent roller 24 a series of pulleys 26 serve to guide the abrading wire. A motor 2! driving a wheel 28 attached to a crank 29 is used to reciprocate the abraded wire against the tension of springs 30 mounted at the end of the trackway opposite to that from the crank.

the spring pulls the wire into the jewels, the wire being connected at one end to a chuck 35 which is attached to a cord 36 extending across the roller 24, pulleys 26 and attached to the crank member 29. The other end of the wire is secured to the spring 30 which is drawn out to the desired tension through the notch 32 and secured to the holding pin 33. The operation of the motor then causes the crank to reciprocate the wire back-and forth through the jewels until the passage is free and there is little or no pull on the jewels through the reciprocation of the wire. Then the carrier and jewels are moved up to a larger diameter-of thewire.

The material used for cutting the jewels is applied directly to the wire in -theform of a paste of diamond dust and olive oil and a pad 31 is attached to one end of the jewel holder to serve as a retainer for thispaste so that with each reciprocation the wire passes in'contact with the pad and replenishes its supply of paste.

The jewel holder is advanced in steps by an operator, the nut 2| securely! holding the carrier at the desired pointl j With the old methodbf opening'jewels by hand approximately 25% of the jewelswere broken in. the "operation of forcing the wire throughthe holes while the constant flexing of the wire back and forth which was necessary when the work was done manuallymade it necessary to replace the wire with almost every newibatch of jewels. With the present invention there is no breaking of the jewels whatever and since the machine has been put in operation it has not been necessary to replace the wires due to breakage. The results,

rality of jewels threaded on said wires and means for reciprocating said wires over said rollers.

3. An apparatus for enlarging the bore of a jewel comprising a bench, a trackway on said bench, a roller journaled at the end of said trackway, a wire of graduated diameters above said trackway, a jewel carrier slidably mounted in said trackway, a plurality of jewels threaded on said wire and housed within said jewel carrier, means for reciprocating said wire and means for locking said jewel carrier at any position on said trackway.

4. In an apparatus for enlarging the bore of v a jewel, a'jewel carrier, comprisingan H-shaped body section, upstanding ends located on one side of' the body section, said ends having a groove therein, a retaining strip secured to each of said ends and extending oversaid groove and from the above machine show that this is a" great improvement over the hand type not only in its eiiiciency of operation but in the uniformity of the finished product;

What is claimed is:

1; An apparatus for enlarging the'bore of a jewel comprising a bench, a plurality of trackways on-said bench, a plurality of jewel carriers slidably mounted in said trackways, a plurality of wires strung above said trackways, a plua floating guide on the interior side of each of said ends and means for retaining said guide in position.

5. An apparatus for enlarging the bore of a jewel, a jewel carrier as described in clai 4 including means for locking said jewel carrier at any predetermined position.

6.'An apparatus for enlarging the bore of a jewe comprising a plurality of trackways mounted on a bench, a jewel carrier slidably carried by each of said trackways, a wire extending parallel to and slightly above each of said trackways, said wire being made of lengths of difierent diameters, said diameters graduatfing uniformly from one end of the wire to the fl dewels threaded on said wires and" -housed within said jewel carriers, means for reciprocating said wires and means for locking other, a plurality of jewels threaded on each of said wires and housed within its respective carrier, means for reciprocating said wires and means for locking said jewel carriers in any position relative to said wires.

- JAMES OLIVER LE VAN. 

